Witch Hunt
Witch Hunt Episode Number: Season 3, Episode 13 Directed By: Guy Ferland Air Date: March 16, 2014 Previous Episode: New York City Serenade Next Episode The Tower "Witch Hunt" is the thirteenth episode of Season 3 of the American fairytale/drama series Once Upon a Time, and the show's 57th episode overall, which aired on March 16, 2014. In this episode, Emma Swan arrives in Storybrooke with Henry, only to discover that no one remembers how they were transported back – or the past year they had spent back in fairy tale land. Emma teams up with Regina in an attempt to uncover who created the new curse. Meanwhile, in the fairy tale land that was during the past year, Regina, with the aid of Robin Hood, attempts to break into her castle, which has been overtaken by The Wicked Witch. The episode also marked the return of Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin who was believed to be deceased after he sacrificed himself in the mid-season finale in December 2013. "Witch Hunt" received mostly positive reviews from critics, with many complimenting the improvement and progression in the story lines. Upon airing, the episode was watched by 7.75 million viewers, attaining an 18-49 rating of 2.4. This figure was an increase of 0.09 million viewers from the spring premiere the previous week, whilst identical in terms of 18-49 rating. Plot 'Opening Sequence' The Wicked Witch of the West flies around the forest on her broomstick. 'In the Enchanted Forest' Back in the Enchanted Forest in the past year, the characters are walking through the forest. Although Regina is still missing Henry, she also starts thinking a lot about the tunnels that run under the castle, which is interrupted by the arrival of a flying monkey that was sent by Zelena, who is planning to attack Regina. Regina uses her magic and turns it into a stuffed monkey, which she hands to Robin’s son Roland. Belle says she’s read about the only land that has winged monkeys, and believes that they might be from a place called Oz; and it is most likely that the one now occupying Regina's castle is none other than the Wicked Witch of the West, as she is the only one known to have such creatures under her employ, but a snarky Regina responds to that comment of who is doing the bidding or orders by saying “I don’t care if the lollypop guild is protecting her,” and she’s going to get in that castle by herself without any help. However, Robin decides he's going to tag along anyway as a way to thank Regina for saving Roland. Robin suspects that Regina still misses someone in her life, even after admitting to him that she does. In the tunnels under the castle, Regina explains she has to put out a fire in the courtyard that powers the spell, only to discover to find the door open when its supposed to be sealed with blood magic. The door leads to a crypt with the coffin of her mother, Cora. As they head to her drawer, Robin becomes suspicious when she take a vial out, then he starts pulling a bow on her. It turns out that Regina is planning to put a sleeping spell on herself so Henry will find her one-day and embrace her again, after lowering the protection spell. Regina then freezes Robin so she can go through with it and does lower the protection spell, but just as she is about to take the spell, she is interrupted by Zelena, who then takes the potion pin from Regina and reveals to Regina that they both have one thing in common, besides magic and the fact that Rumplestiltskin trained them, that Cora is their mother and they are half-sisters. Zelena, who is furious that Cora gave Regina everything that she could never have, tells her younger sibling that she plans to take everything she had away from her as revenge. After Zelena flies off on her broom, Regina returns to the crypt and unfreezes Robin, where she tells him that she now has something to live for: someone to destroy. 'Storybrooke' In Storybrooke, Emma Swan and Captain Hook visit a very pregnant Mary Margaret and David at their home. Since everyone in town can not remember the previous year or how they came back to Storybrooke, Hook tells Mary Margaret he was with them for a short while in the Enchanted Forest the year before, then he left. While he was sailing, a bird brought him a note and the memory potion to inform him about what had happened and he thought Snow sent it. Leroy then arrives and announces that another dwarf is missing and the possibility that Neal might be also missing, so Emma decides they have to get their memories back, by figuring out who took them. Meanwhile, over at Granny's , Ruby brings Henry cocoa with cinnamon when Emma arrives with David and Mary Margaret and passes them off as friends from Phoenix. When Regina sees Henry, she freaks out. Emma then approaches Regina to try to figure out how to find the person who cast the new curse that brought everyone back to Storybrooke. Around the same time, Little John, who, along with the merry men, are unsuccessfully turkey hunting, is snatched by a flying monkey. The disappearance prompts Emma, Hook, and David to investigate, leading them to the city limits where he was last seen. After Emma leaves, Hook and David search the area and find a mauled Little John in the forest and is taken to the hospital. After they arrived at the hospital, Little John goes into convulsions and is transformed into a flying monkey, and makes an escape into the forest. Later on at the town hall meeting, Emma and Regina start an argument over who created the new curse (as the entire town is blaming Regina). She denies it and says she would have kept Henry, but Emma doesn't believes her. A furious Regina then disappears. A red-headed woman with a green pendant looks suspicious. It is later revealed that back in the Mayor's office that Emma and Regina staged this performance together in an effort to distract the townspeople while they seek out the real source of the curse. It also turns out that Regina is trying to replicate the memory potion to get everyone's year-long memories back, but the chemistry experiment fails, so Emma suggests using an old bail bonds trick to expose the person by announcing that they have a memory potion almost done. Back at the cafe, Mary Margaret is freaking herself out reading a baby book, when a woman approaches and tells her that "cradle crap" goes away. She tells Mary Margaret that she hasn’t been in Storybrooke long, saying that she wasn't anyone she’d remember back in the Enchanted Forest. “I was a midwife,” she says, and introduces herself to Mary Margaret as Zelena, who then feels Mary Margaret's stomach, hearing and feeling the unborn child, as if she had something planned in the works for The Charmings. Later that night, Leroy (under the premise that Emma gave him the message that she found Regina) makes the announcement about the potion and Zelena gets up and walks out. Around the same time, Regina and Emma stake out the Mayor's office, where after they bond over Henry, the two get the break they were looking for and as they attempt to capture the person, the caped individual that broke in the office suddenly disappears in a puff of green smoke. Emma and Regina later return to the apartment, where Emma introduces Henry to Regina, but he doesn't remember her. David and Hook then arrive to tell the women about what happened to Little John. It appears that the missing residents are being turned into flying monkeys, and Regina believes that the only person who could be capable of doing this is The Wicked Witch of The West. Emma’s confused because they’re not in Kansas and is now learning that there is another character living among the residents. Unfortunately, at a farm house located outside Storybrooke, it is revealed that Zelena is actually The Wicked Witch of The West. She then brings a tray of food down into an underground cellar... where it is revealed that she is keeping a prisoner who has gone mad in a cage: Rumplestiltskin. Cast Starring *Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard *Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan *Lana Parrilla as The Evil Queen/Regina Mills *Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David Nolan/Prince James *Emilie de Ravin as Belle *Colin O'Donoghue as Hook *Michael Raymond-James as Baelfire/Neal Cassidy *Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills *Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold Guest Starring *Rebecca Mader as The Wicked Witch/Zelena *Sean Maguire as Robin Hood *Beverley Elliot as Granny *Meghan Ory as Red Riding Hood/Ruby *Lee Arenberg as Grumpy/Leroy *Raphael Sbarge as Jiminy Cricket/Archie Hopper *David Anders as Victor Frankenstein/Dr. Whale *Jason Burkart as Little John *Michael P. Northey as Friar Tuck *Gabe Khouth as Sneezy/Tom Clark *Faustino di Bauda as Sleepy/Walter *Michael Coleman as Happy *David Paul Grove as Doc *Mig Macario as Bashful *Jeffrey Kaiser as Dopey *Raphael Alejandro as Roland Trivia Production Notes= *The title card features the Wicked Witch of the West on her broomstick. *The title of this episode was announced by Adam Horowitz via his Twitter account on November 24, 2013. *Cradle cap, which Mary Margaret is reading about, is also known as infantile or neonatal seborrhoeic dermatitis, crusta lactea, milk crust and honeycomb disease. It is a yellowish, patchy, greasy, scaly and crusty skin rash that occurs on the scalp of recently born babies. It is usually not itchy, and does not bother the baby. It most commonly begins in the first three months. It requires no specific treatment, and, as Zelena points out, will clear up on its own time. |-|Goofs= *The Wicked Witch of the West's protection spell surrounding the Dark Palace changes in size. When the spell is first discovered by The Evil Queen in "New York City Serenade", it's located by scorch marks on the surrounding ground and shrubbery. However, when the spell is lowered in this episode, it is located significantly closer to the palace with the scorched trees appearing in the foreground.